A Life of Runes
by Whats-a-Good-Pen-Name
Summary: At first glance Claire Arked seems like any other person.No one could possibly know the chaos she could bring to Camolot or the ties she has to a powerful sorcerer in their midst. OCs but the gang is still here, dont worry.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Okay I've had a few stories sitting in the back of my HDD with dust all over and decided to post the beginning of this one just to see what it's like to be on . So far so good, but would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks :)K**

Autumn's early leaves danced around Claire's feet before skipping down the cobblestone street. Her sapphire blue eyes followed their trail which eventually ended against a modest wooden door. The house it belonged to wasn't much of a sight. It had obviously been abandoned, overgrown weeds and mould covering every crack and crevice. Its only punctuation was the heavy, silver chain and locked that fastened the door shut. It seemed impossible to get past without a key. Luckily Claire had company.

She turned around to see said company fighting through the thick market crowd, his silver hair easily recognisable.

"Alec!" Claire shouted and gestured towards the home when he spun his head at the sound of his name.

Once passed the crowd, Alec carefully examined the rickety building. After a few moments he scratched his temple, saying "Yeah, this is the place, I think". Claire sighed, not satisfied with assumptions.

She spotted a scrawny young man who was leaning against a wall, slicing through an apple with a rusty looking knife. The man was staring attentively at Alec, most probably looking at the hostile scar that ran down the silver haired man's face. She felt sorry for Alec, with people judging him from afar because of a wound he got fighting for their benefit. To Claire it looked like the scalding trail of a tear, running from the corner of his eye until it ended abruptly on his chin.

"I'll just go ask around to be sure" she said, adding "Try not to kill anyone.", when she saw that he had also noticed the staring man, who quickly resumed slicing the apple when he saw the irritation on Alec's face.

Claire walked up to the suddenly nervous man, putting on her best imitation of a smile. "Do you know who used to live here?"

The man glanced up and nodded.

"Well, could you tell me who he was?" she asked plainly, trying to get the point out of him.

"I didn't know his name. He was kind of shady." He said, but his glance was anxiously shifting from the brunette woman to the menacing man with the scar. "In fact he got taken away just a year ago".

"What was he arrested for?" she asked, trying to grasp the man's attention with a click of her fingers.

The scrawny man's brow furrowed. "Arrested, no, no, he was kidnapped, some people around here said he was taken by that creed, uh, what was it called?" He stared at his feet for a moment before snapping his head up and exclaimed "Remnant! That was it!" and dropped his voice to a whisper "They thought he was an alchemist"

"Really?" Claire whispered, faking curiosity. "Well, I don't want people to think I was snooping around, so you won't mind keeping this under wraps would you?" Claire took out a silver coin and placed it on the window sill next to him. "Thanks for all your help." Claire spun on her heels and walked back to Alec who was trying to look through the film of dust that coated one of the windows.

"Well?" He asked when she reached him

"You were right, for once" she said, accompanied with a smirk

Alec shook his head at her comment and took out a pin from his pocket, starting to work on the lock. Claire looked around at the crowd, some of which were looking suspiciously at the pair, wondering what they wanted in that infamous house.

"Maybe this should wait until later" she whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "We don't want to have the so called Remnant on our…" "It's fine. They don't know who we are. Let's just get this damn stone." He cut in, and continued to pick the lock.

"Alec!" Claire hissed. She knew he could be stubborn sometimes but to risk months of searching because of his impatience? It put Claire on edge. "Come on, we can go get something to eat" Claire started to walk away, pulling at Alec's collar but he just shrugged her off. Claire spun around in confusion over Alec's haste and was about to give him a choice couple of words when the lock clicked.

Alec stood up and slowly opened the door. "I'm going to go look for it. You can join me or go get something to eat" He didn't wait for a reply and walked into the dimly lit home. Claire just stared after him for a moment, mouth ajar. She couldn't understand his sudden frustration. Just a few moments ago he was fine, but at the mention of the Remnant he went sour.

'Wait a minute, who were the Remnant?' she asked herself. Alec certainly knew who they were, judging by his reaction to their mention earlier. She wondered how.

She decided to follow him closely, suddenly suspicious. Quickly glancing around at the dwindling crowd she ducked under the low door to be hit by a strong smell of dust and acid. Her eyes immediately began to water and her throat burnt from the chemicals. She took off her scarf and held it to her mouth. It didn't do much, but it helped.

The house was very basic, just one big room. A bed, covered in moth eaten sheets, was in one corner and a block of wood in the other, presumably acting as a table. Other than that there wasn't much else. Claire suddenly realised the mess that covered the floor. Books, flasks and some unidentifiable trash littered it. It looked as if the alchemist didn't go quietly.

Alec was nowhere to be seen, but Claire could hear him coughing. She blindly followed the sound until she almost fell down a hole in the rotting wooden floor. She knelt down and felt around with her hands. They met a ladder and Claire slowly made her way down the crude tunnel.

She reached the bottom and spun around to meet the end of a sword. She let out a squeal that was quickly stifled when Alec threw his hand up to cover her mouth.

"Sorry" he rasped between coughs when she calmed down.

Claire nodded with wide eyes and looked around the dingy basement. "What is this place?" she asked before placing the scarf back over her mouth.

"I just got here Claire, I know just about as much as you do" he deadpanned with a look of exhaustion on his face.

"Alright, calm down."

Alec let out a deep sigh, scratched his temple and turned around to continue looking.

Claire joined in and shuffled through the millions of books that covered what looked like a writing desk. Most of the books were written about alchemy, the old religion or black-smithy.

One book caught Claire eye though with a bright gold cover and a symbol that Claire knew well. She turned to the first page. An orange and red dragon spiralled around its border. Slowly going over the words, Claire recognised prophesy of Emirs. She had been told the story so many times before.

Claire shut the book but looked at the cover for a lingering moment, fascinated with the symbol. She looked over her shoulder at Alec who was racing through drawers and cupboards, with a blur of countless objects being thrown over his shoulder. Slipping the book into her satchel, she strode to Alec's side and helped him look.

Claire steeped forward to look in a dark corner, when a floor board underneath her feet lurched and buckled. She quickly took her foot off the board and knelt down to examine the floor further. Her nails picked at the edges of the board until it slowly came loose and she was able to claw it open.

She stuck her hand in the gap but the hole was too deep and her hands couldn't reach anything. She took her hand out to pull her hair behind her ears. She tried to lift the board next to the previous one and found that it came away just as the first one. So did a few others. She could now clearly see a chest at the bottom of the ditch, gold and red just as the book was. Claire hopped in the hole and knelt down to unbuckle the latch across the front of it. It opened with a creek.

The inside of the chest was lined with red silk that had spiralling patterns stitched into it. In the centre of the chest was a beautiful deep orange stone. It was perfectly round with flawlessly smooth sides. Claire examined the jewel carefully wondering how such perfection was attained. She wasn't an expert but even Claire knew that all stones have a grain and that it was impossible to cut across the grain without fracturing the stone.

She carefully slipped the precious stone into her satchel and climbed out of the ditch. She looked around for Alec but couldn't see him anywhere. She heard footsteps behind her and spun around on her heels.

She didn't have time to lift her head when a ball of blinding light struck her and everything went black.

**Thoughts? No? Okay… ._.**

**RR**

**JBB**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Alrighty then, here's the next part of my story. Hope everyone enjoys but can take criticism if it's from a published author… or from the great people on this site I guess.**

**Btw, I have to apologise in advance. I'm not the best speller in the world and the same goes for grammar. I do proof read but if I miss something out please point it out Thanks :)**

Claire could feel the pain in her head before she could open her eyes. Light was streaming in from a window and she had to squint to make out where she was. Shuffling footsteps sounded across the room and the glare of the sun was shaded when the man closed the curtains. He got a note book out from a drawer and started scribbling in it.

It took all her energy to lean up in the bed and managed to only get half way, and resorted to leaning on her elbows. She glanced towards the man she had seen a moment ago, with a confused look on her face. He looked up and his brows knitted together, surprised to see her up.

"Good morning my child, how is your head feeling?" he asked and shut the book and slipped and elastic over the cover, placing it in a drawer.

Her head felt like it was splitting but Claire was just happy with being alive and conscious for the moment. "Not great, I'll admit", she said, gripping her forehead.

The man nodded in understanding and said, "I'm sure I can help with that. Now, if I could just find that Dragon Dew I'll fix up a…" His voice trailed away with his thoughts as he sorted through a shelf full of boxes.

Looking around at the room Claire made an easy guess that this was a hospital, or at least a clinic of some sorts. Vials and flasks lay neatly in rows, containing differently coloured liquids, and the books where just as organised, though they had obviously been excessively used as they all had faded and frayed spines. The room reminded Claire of the last place she remembered being conscious.

The man that had spoken to her earlier came into view holding a poultice of some kind. He was an old man with deep set wrinkles and white hair that hung over his shoulders. He wasn't wearing wealthy clothing, just a simple red robe that came down to his ankles and a similarly long vest.

"I can't believe you woke up so soon, that was some nasty bump you got on your head there." He gave Claire a kindly smile and handed her the poultice. "It's a simple sleeping draught. It will not stop the pain but you need rest. Later when you have your dinner, you can take something stronger if I'm able to find whatever it was I talking about earlier."

"Dragon Dew" she reminded him and returned his smile.

"Ah yes, I'll get Merlin to go find some this afternoon. If you need anything, just call, okay? My name is Gaius" he said and got up. She wanted to ask a million questions but her head wouldn't let her get past the torturous throbbing in it and she could only mutter a "Thank-You" before downing the draught and lying back down on the lumpy bed.

"My name is Claire" heavy weights pulled down on her eyelids and eventually she gave in to her exhaustion.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

When she woke up again, she could feel that the pain that had engulfed her earlier had now lifted. She slowly leaned up and swivelled her legs around the bed, placing her bare feet on the freezing cold stone floor. She felt a sudden shock as she realised she was no longer in the hospital room.

She shot up off the bed and looked around for an exit. The room was small but had room for a bed with a set of drawers at the end of it, along with mounds of assorted objects that made Claire think it could have been a storage room before it was ever a bedroom. Claire was relieved that the room wasn't a jail cell so she couldn't complain about the mess.

She looked out the only window in the room. It was pitch black outside and the streets were abandoned so it was probably the middle of the night. She heard a mumbling that was coming from the other side of a door in the corner of the room. As she walked over, her legs turned to jelly and studying her hands she saw that she was trembling. She wasn't the kind of person that panicked easily and even now, though she was clearing shaking, she didn't feel particularly scared, only alert. This must have been caused by that draught she took earlier, she thought.

She stumbled over to the door, bringing with her a broom she picked up from the corner, just in case. Claire carefully pressed her ear to the door, and when she was certain it was safe, opened the door, crack by crack, in silence. She was an expert when it came to stealth, since she had had a lot of practise over the years. When the gap was big enough, Claire slipped through.

She could hear loud snoring from somewhere to her right but didn't stop to make acquaintances. She made ground across the wooden floor, inch by inch, cringing with every squeak and lurch of the wood. She tried hard to concentrate but her mind was still groggy even with the trickle of adrenaline. She didn't notice until the last moment that her next step was about to land on a silently sleeping figure on the floor. Her hand flung to her mouth to try and supress the gasp and her foot hung suspended in the air, centimetres from the man's stomach.

She quickly stepped back but her jelly legs failed her and she fell backwards, hitting her head on an ebony chest. 'Great, just what I need, 'she thought as she let out a curse, 'another head wound to add to my score'

The sleeping figure shot up

"Who's there? Gaius?"

Claire recognised the name from earlier before and relaxed a little, she must still be in the clinic.

She let out a sigh and said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you"

"Wha.." said the man, who got up to go light a candle.

He looked at Claire.

"Oh, you're the girl who Gaius was talking about right? The one with the head. I mean with the bump and all"

The man Claire was looking at had inky black hair and a face that reminded her of…something. Something she couldn't put her finger on. Maybe it was the light. She shook the confusion off her face.

"That's me" Claire said with a grin, "You must be Merlin then."

**Sorry if this chapter was boring but I had to get Claire to the castle somehow and now she is there. So Yeah. **

**I'm going to go into a different POV next chapter thinking it would be better for getting to know Claire a bit better as well as a chance to bring in the other characters.**

**Would utterly Love some reviews, even if it's one word. Two would be nice though :P**

**Thanks**

**JBB**


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